Chapter 4:

Pulling on a pair of black jeans and a plain dark green tank top Fé ran a brush through her long hair. Wrinkling her brow she stared hard at her looked different. After a moment of scrutiny she realised that her hair was no longer wavy but hung straight. Pulling a lock in front of her she examined it.

Yep. Not a single wave.

Now she was convinced that Britney Spears had been her idol. The hair had just been like her's. Shuddering at the thought she grabbed her scrunchie and pulled it into a high ponytail. The straight hair suited her so much better.

Fé ticked off the few things she knew about herself.

One: she was a crazy Britney Spears fan ( that conclusion came from the posters and CD's as well as the countless magazines)

Two: Her dress sense was awful.(all those revealing clothes were stomach churning)

Three: Pink seemed to be her favourite color. (the whole room looked like candy floss. Pink dominated the scene. Within the last 18 hrs she'd learned to distinguish among twenty six different shades of that color!)

Four: She must've been a masochist. (it must have been suicide to wear those high heels she had seen in the closet.)

Five: She was filthy rich.(The scraps of material in her closet were designer ones after all. She recognized the brands by flipping through a few magazines she found lying around. Besides the house was a mansion!)

With a sigh she grabbed a piece of paper and penned down the following:

buy flat soled shoes. throw away any hair curlers in sight get rid of old wardrobe do something about this blasted room! Pink is alright but a variety of colors is much better. find out if I kept a diary.

She stuck the list on her dresser.

From what she had seen so far Fé didn't like the person she had been. But there had to be something good about me, she thought, maybe I kept a diary or something...

Preoccupied with these thoughts Fé walked into the kitchen and found Doris. Placing breakfast on the table.

"Where's Steve?" she asked.

"He's gone to work, miss," the woman said surprised, "he told me to inform you he had a meeting out of state so he caught the early morning flight."

"Oh," she said, "well I'm going to school with a friend."

Doris looked away with a slight nod. Fé frowned. Why was Doris so uptight around her? she glanced down at her plate and her frown deepened.

A single toast stared back at her.

It was dry too.

Feh.

"Um... Doris?" she asked eyeing the food skeptically, "is this all I get?"

"Why, yes," the lady said.

"Was I on a diet?"

Doris nodded.

"Can you describe it?"

"A single dry toast in the morning, cottage cheese and parsley or salad in the afternoon and a small bowl of soup for dinner."

"That's it?" Fé asked in disbelief. All that stuff put together couldn't qualify as a meal. No wonder she was skinny! The hospital food was better!

"Yes," Doris said and looked at Fé concerned, "are you alright?"

"Why did I want that diet?"

"You had informed that you needed to lose a few pounds, you designed the diet yourself."

I must have been delusional, Fé thought, or maybe I just wanted to fit into those timy clothes I found.

"Yes, but... ah... I know this is kinda on a short notice," Fé began, "but could you possibly make something a little more... filling? Like pancakes?"

The word pancakes just popped into her head and Fé frowned. What on earth were pancakes? She couldn't seem to remember.

"Alright," Doris said looking very surprised and within matter of minutes she had whipped up excellent pancakes.

"So how long have you worked here?" Fé asked as she tucked into the wonderful food with relief.

"Since before you were born."

"Do you like it?"

"Mr. Langdon pays well."

Something about her short answers struck Fé as odd. It was as if she was cautious. If the woman had been with her since her birth wouldn't their bond have been stronger?

"So were you like a second mother to me or something?"

Doris almost dropped the cloth she was holding, "I beg your pardon?"

"Just a question," Fé said, "I mean you were with us for so long and everything."

"Well," Doris said, "the answer to that is probably something you'll know better. I have tried to take care of you in all the ways I could."

A loud honk sounded from outside and Fé jumped up.

"That must be Alyssa," she said, "see you later Doris!"

"Aren't you going to take your car?" Doris asked.

"I have a car?" Fé asked a little surprised.

"Yes, ," the woman replied, "one of those new sports ones. It's out the back."

"I think I'll pass," Fé said, "I can't seem to remember how to drive."

"Oh," Doris said looking at her with a slightly softer expression, "good day to you miss."

"Ms. Langdon," the principal said looking at her, "due to the unsual circumstances I'm letting you sit in class despite your medical condition. You might find all you have learned useful when you get... well. You've been excused from handing in assignments though sice I can't be certain of how well you'll understand what's being taught."

Fé nodded, "I'll do what I can."

"I'll let you go to your classes now. I'm sure Ms. Carson will show you around first."

"So ready to go?" Alyssa asked as Fé walked out of the office.

"Lead the way Ally."

Ten minutes later as they walked towards their class Alyssa stopped.

"What?" Fé asked.

"Do you remember who any of your friends are?"

"No."

"Then how about you sit with us for lunch till you figure it out?"

"Us?" Fé asked.

"Nate, West, Callie, Drew and me," Alyssa said, "you'll like them."

"I take it that they constitute the resident badass group?" Fé asked with a smirk. Alyssa stuck her pierced tongue at Fé and then grinned.

"So you're with us or what?"

"Deal."

"Do you really want to go to class?"

"I have to," Fé said, "don't you?'

"Have to and want to are two different things," Alyssa said with a smile, "how about we play hookey till lunch?"

"Hookey?" Fé asked frowning. The word seemed familiar but she couldn't seem to remember the meaning.

"Truant," Alyssa prompted and on seeing the confusion increase on Fé's face she said, "you know skip school."

"Oh," Fé said. The doctor had said these things would happen. In between she would have difficulty understanding or imagining certain words or images in her mind. She had also been warned that since her concussion had been pretty bad she might also have some momentray blackouts.

"So?" Alyssa asked raising her eyebrows. Fé looked thoughtfully at the girl in front of her as the rebel side of her personality itched to take the risk while her reponsible side was yelling at her for even consdering it. Finally she sighed.

"I don't think I can," seeing Alyssa's face fall she quickly added, "not that the idea doesn't sound appealing or anything but the doc told me that I might have blackouts, nothing serious just like the ones you saw in tha hospital but I'd prefer being at school where there is a nurse in case something happens. I don't wanna freak you guys out or anything."

"That's alright," Alyssa said nodding understandingly, "but you owe me. When you get your memory back we're bunking school for a day!"

"Is this what you and your friends do?" Fé asked rather amused, "skip classes?"

"It's fun," the girl said, "though West is not too happy about it. A bit on the studious side, that one. He doesn't really fit the 'badass' bill."

Fé laughed as she glanced at her time table, "Well," she said, "looks like there are only fifteen minutes for this period to get over so we could just hang around till our next class."

"Let's go out on the grounds," Alyssa said, "I actually had the whole skipping school thing planned with the rest of the crew. I'll have to tell them its off for today."

"You can go," Fé said, "I won't tell."

"And let you faint away with no one around?"

"I won't 'faint away'!" Fé said rolling her eyes.

"No one would understand your condition like I do," Alyssa snorted, "I was with you at the hospital remember."

"Since when were you bodyguard?"

"Since now," Alyssa said firmly as she steered Fé outside, "now come on, I want you to meet my friends."

"You know," Fé laughed, "your pretty normal under all that metal you've stapled onto your face."

"The stuff is just to piss off the 'rents," she said, "they keep pushing me around. Besides someone's gotta be different around here."

Once outside they spotted a small group of people standing at the corner of the building. Alyssa jogged ahead to meet then while Fé followed at a slower pace knowing fully well that these were the first students of Weston High she would meet other than Alyssa. These were the first people she would meet who knew her old self before the accident and she didn't know how they would react.

A.N: I'm already working on the next chapter and it starts of with the first encounter between Fé and West after the accident. Hope you liked it so far. In case any of you are confused about Doris' aloof behavior I'll let you know that all will be explained in the forth coming chapters. But since you saw how the old Fé burst out at the girl who spilled the paint you'd probably guess how demanding she is of those who work for her.

'The Elite' is on hold till I finish either this story or 'The Outcast'. Thank you so much for your reviews! You have no idea what it means to me. Its truly amazing how through a simple story I'm connected to a whole load of you guys around the world, some thousand of miles away perhaps. It's a kinda of funny yet nice thing when you think about it. I don't even know you personally yet you've all been so supportive.

Thanx.

Da Svidaniya

Winter's Shadow